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Setting Credit and Placement Policy
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| | Value of AP to Colleges and Universities
The AP Program helps colleges and universities in many ways. To learn more about the value of AP to colleges and universities, follow the link below.
Value of AP to Colleges and Universities
AP Policies Attract Motivated Students
Having a clear and equitable AP policy enables colleges and universities to attract a diverse group of motivated high school students.
AP Serves Underrepresented Minority and Low-Income Students
The College Board has been working diligently to provide all students with the opportunity to take a rigorous high school curriculum by expanding access to AP -- especially to those students traditionally underrepresented because of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or geography.
AP Students Are Well-Prepared for Success in College
Research studies show that students who do well on an AP Exam are academically prepared to place out of a corresponding introductory college course and move on to the next higher-level course.
AP Students Pursue Disciplinary Interests Cultivated in AP
Students who receive advanced placement or college credit typically continue to take more, not fewer, courses in the discipline for which they've received AP credit.
What Is an AP Policy?
Each college and university determines its own policies regarding AP, which may include granting credit, advanced placement, or both. Granting credit reduces the number of credit hours required for graduation, while awarding advanced placement allows a student to place out of the introductory course that is comparable to the AP course and move directly into the next, higher-level course. Frequently, a qualifying AP Exam grade can also fulfill university distribution or departmental requirements, such as a composition or a foreign language requirement.
 Find Credit Policy Information
The Importance of Having an AP Policy
A clearly stated AP policy that allows students who perform well on AP Exams to place out of introductory courses and/or fulfill distribution requirements, helps students move directly to material at their level and identify their academic interests. In most cases, AP students who place out of an introductory course tend to take more courses in that particular discipline than students who do not take the AP Exam.1 Advanced placement and credit for qualifying AP Exam grades also give students more flexibility in their college curriculum, making it possible to pursue honors programs, double-majors, and study-abroad programs.
How to Set an AP Policy
Each college or university must decide what evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that the student has satisfied one or more of its course requirements. The College Board recognizes that different institutions will set different policies, based upon factors unique to their institution and student body. Colleges and universities should rely on research and data, familiarization with the AP curricula and examinations, and their own internal studies in determining what AP Exam grades will be required for advanced placement or credit to be granted. Some colleges and universities appoint special committees to set AP policy for the entire institution, others leave the credit and placement policies up to individual academic departments. Here are four common options for refining or establishing your institution's AP policies; institutions frequently use one or more options to establish a policy.
AP and Higher Education Publications
Option 1: Understand What an AP Exam Grade Represents
The AP Program takes steps to verify that AP courses are similar in curricular content to introductory-level college courses and AP Exam grades correspond to specific levels of college achievement. Each AP Development Committee periodically conducts a curriculum survey of college and university faculty members who teach introductory-level college courses in order to appropriately revise and refine the AP course content as outlined in the Course Description booklet and as assessed on the AP Exam.
Course Home Page Index
Additionally, the AP Program conducts college comparability studies that help align the AP exam-scoring rubric to actual grades received by students in introductory-level college courses. These studies compare the performance of AP students on the AP Exam to the performance of college students who take portions of the AP Exam at the conclusion of the comparable college-level course, and are used to directly link AP standards to higher education standards.
What an AP Grade Means
College Comparability Studies
Option 2: Use Data on the Performance of AP Students in College
The AP Program regularly conducts research studies to assess whether AP students perform as well as, or better than, their non-AP peers in higher-level college courses. A recent study that analyzed college grades of over 72,000 college students at 20 different colleges from the fall of 1996 to the summer of 2001, illustrated that:
- Students who receive AP Exam grades of 3, 4, or 5, and bypass introductory courses, perform as well or better in upper-level classes than those students who first complete the introductory course.
- Students who receive grades of 3, 4, or 5 on most AP Exams are more likely to receive an A or a B in a higher-level class than their non-AP peers.
This recent study replicated and expanded upon an earlier one (1998) that similarly looked at college performance of AP and non-AP students in upper-level courses at 20 colleges and universities. This study found that AP students with grades of 4 and 5 on AP Exams earned high grades in a higher-level course after being placed out of the introductory course. Students with AP grades of 3 that placed out of the introductory courses achieved course grade point averages better than a 3.0 in higher-level courses, and more often than not had course grade averages higher than non-AP students in those courses who had taken the introductory course. (Also see AP Research below in "More.")
AP Students in College: An Investigation of Course Grades at 21 Colleges (.pdf/267KB)
Option 3: Base Your Policy on External Recommendations
The American Council on Education (ACE), a national accrediting organization, recommends, as a general rule, that colleges and universities award credit for AP grades of 3, 4, and 5 on any AP Examination. ACE notes that the practice of granting provisional credit for a grade of 2 is becoming more frequent because comparability studies have shown that many of these students are potentially qualified for college-level work -- credit is made permanent if the student satisfies another criterion, such as successfully completing the next course in the discipline. The recommended minimum number of semester hours of credit from ACE corresponds to the scope and content of the equivalent AP course.
ACE Recommendations
Option 4: Review AP Curricula and AP Exams
Review AP curricula and exam questions to gauge the level of content mastery required and its relation to your institution's requirements.
Course Home Page Index
1 Advanced Placement Students in College: An Investigation of Course Taking and College Major. Rick Morgan and Behroz Maneckshana. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service, 2000.
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